As we walked further into the dungeon. The air lost all its natural movement as we truly entered an enclosed area.
And remembering Xu Mengdi's previous words about how the monsters in here would be at most mid-tier foundation stage, equivalent to mid-tier two spirit beasts.
Yeah, that shit didn't hold up for long.
Monsters/Dungeon-born spirit beasts for the most part, had drastically reduced intelligence with their forceful birth into the world. So when they came after you. They came at you to kill you with little to no care for their own lives.
And insects were also normally on the much stupider side of spirit beasts; even Nascent Soul tier insect spirit beasts were often not that intelligent.
So when Dao Tuobi went to cut down a wolf-sized giant beetle that rushed her with pincers, about to cleave her in half. It was my roots that formed behind her and ripped out of the literal jaws of death as her sword just hit the hard shell with an ear-ringing clanging noise.
Then I slung a hand towards the monster, and the thick roots I summoned lashed out towards the beetle, which hissed and charged at me, seeing me stand forward in the group.
The two new spells that were all but baked into the Foundation Establishment stage of the Everburning Tree of Transcendence Technique were the Burning Wood Creation Manifestation and the Wood Fire Canon.
Both spells reflected the essence of the cultivation techniques as wood feeds fire. And with my wood spirit root's origin being the Azure Dragon Heart Tree. The beast flames I had integrated into myself were even stronger!
Purple flames covered the whip like a root that smashed into the large beetle, which cried back in pain as the beast flames burned it greatly despite its carapace armor.
Dao Mengdi the eldest sister and with the highest level of cultivation, sent a spinning circular saw of ice at the beetle, and with a loud crunching noise. The saw cut through half of its head before shattering into pieces like a grenade inside the head of the large beetle.
The beetle died with that, and I looked to the rest of the girls who were stock still at the powerful realization.
Dao Mengdi herself was a good bit older than her siblings which was why she was well above their cultivation levels. As in everyone else was at or below mid foundation establishment stage 5.
And even her own full-powered spell at her cultivation level couldn't actually completely cut through the beetle.
"Dungeons as you all know, get stronger the closer you get to the core of the dungeon. Hence, why, unless it's a Nascent Soul tier dungeon and in an open world design... The monsters at the entrance of the dungeon are ALWAYS the weakest." I said dully.
Then I looked at the four women before I said bluntly. "This dungeon is going to explode in a dungeon break within the next week. Otherwise, for a lower-ranked foundation establishment dungeon with set boundaries. It's impossible for an upper middle grade tier two spirit beast to be the very first thing we run into."
And there was just one little more important detail. A cultivator couldn't escape dungeons... You HAD to complete them unless you were a lower-ranked cultivator who basically got dragged into a higher-ranked one.
It was a rule put in by the very world itself, as these dungeons were a tool to temper cultivators and a trial in of themselves.
If you had the will, strength, and luck to clear the dungeon, you got a good deal of alchemy ingredients, spirit stones, and even enchanted weapons made by enslaved souls of xenos invaders of the world that the world kept.
"The boss monster... Is going to be an upper-tier 2 spirit beast." Dao Mengdi caught on with her face going utterly pale in understanding.
Dao Toubi's grasp on her sword audibly creaked as she said quietly. "My sword rebounded on the hard shells of that beetle... What good can I even be?"
I had a bit of an idea about that, actually. But I took a breath as both Dao Xu and Dao Xuan, being spell casters as well, were looking like death warmed over.
Which made sense. As spirit beasts, especially dungeon-spawned monsters, were almost always stronger than cultivators at the same level due to their powerful bloodlines and the energy the dungeon fed them.
These girls were fully aware they were outmatched in this dungeon that was ready to pop due to over-saturation.
I clapped my hands together and said firmly. "Alright! No one is going to die here, you all understand!"
These girls were too cute and sexy to die and be eaten by oversized insects... That was not my fetish, thank you very much!
Dao Xu gave me a dark look before she snapped out. "Who are you to promise that? Some fresh Foundation Stage commoner with no teacher!?"
I merely smiled thinly as Dao Mengdi laid a hand on Dao Xu before she said quietly. "Jake... How do we survive then? Our mother left us some seals and weapons that can possibly even kill the boss monster. But we don't have enough to clear an entire dungeon."
I blinked at that. As in my memory, it was Dao Mengdi who self-detonated herself. which allowed Dao Xu to finish off the hidden boss monster that prevented them from leaving the dungeon.
In the memory of Dao Xu's chance encounter in the dungeon. They didn't have extra formation tags and talismans beyond the norm.
But I shook the thought aside as I wondered if their mom decided to give them extra insurance if I was trouble or something.
Regardless, I said firmly. "Just listen to me, don't move too far away... And don't do anything stupid, and I can keep you all alive."
As with my Heavenly Foundation Establishment. I already had the strength of a normal level eight foundation establishment cultivator from what I had seen from the spell strength testing machine I tested back at the Sect.
So, so long as they didn't go out of their way to get themselves killed... This dungeon, although dangerous for sure, wasn't going to be a lethal death trap for them like it was in Dao Xu's chance dream.
The four ladies shared a look before Dao Toubi then said bluntly. "Fine, we will follow your instructions. But don't try to use us as disposable fodder. We will resist at the worst possible moment if you do so."
My lips twitched at that rather blunt threat to stab me in the back if I did such evil nonsense.
But I nodded and said evenly. "Agreed, now follow me. We aren't going to explore the side paths of the dungeon with it's enhanced danger level. So let's head directly towards the boss zone."
This dungeon had a bit of a honeycomb-like design. Each comb had its own encounters with its own resources within. Along with monsters within and caged inside each comb.
And each side had a gate which locked each zone to itself and led to the next, comb-like, mega-sized room.
"Uhm. So if we head straight to the boss area, that means we will still need to head through eight zones, right?" Dao Xuan said quietly with clear fear as we could still run into 'elites' in stronger monsters in a zone.
"That is correct. Dao Toubi, as a sword cultivator, you remain in front but only fight to reflect and give yourself space for us to attack. I will watch the back and your sides as you three stand beside one another to cast your spells and techniques." I instructed us into a diamond position.
As I knew what was going to come all too soon as we entered the next zone.
The ground in this zone we entered was soft, loamy, and filled with thick moss. And space out across the thick willow tree-filled zone were large rocks that were mostly burrowed on the ground.
And as we walked into the zone I called out. "Stop!"
The girls paused and I looked at the surrounding willow tree's with some annoyance as these willow trees were what killed Dao Xuan in the chance dream I saw from Dao Xu. These willow trees themselves were fine.
The issue was that giant Sword Whispers resided within the silvery leaves of these willow tree's.
With Sword Whisper's being stick bug-like bugs that looked like silvery leaves but were actually an insect whose shell was as hard as metal and could whip itself around with its body, cutting through our human flesh easily.
"Sword Whisper's fill these willow trees we will need to pass through and under to get to the next zone." I explained, with Dao Toubi's face going dark at my explanation, even as the other three had expressions that clearly showed they had zero idea of what I meant.
Dao Toubi then explained that the shells of the Sword Whisperers were premium materials used in the making of wood and wind attribute flying swords. And how dangerous they were.
I nodded simply, then put my hands together with the ground beneath me shuddering as black, burnt canon-like tubes formed from the roots I conjured as I activated the other spell that was so tied to my cultivation technique.
"Easy solution... Just burn the entire forest out of the way." I said as I pushed my qi into the roots beneath me with those tubes glowing red before purple flame orbs shot out at high speed from the aptly named Wood Fire Cannon.
Those purple burning orbs traveled through the air for a good bit before they fell down, and then as they collided with both soil and the willow tree's themselves. The orbs violently exploded, sending dense purple flames that seemingly fed on the air to burn for several seconds.
Loud explosions rang out, followed by shrieks as abruptly. All the water and air inside the monster's popped as the air and pressure in the surrounding area around them became so much different.
And in my actions the nearby hiding Sword Whisper's came out of hiding as their angled serpentine bodies dropped from the nearby willow tree's and came towards us.
But they were all to clear to our eyes. They were ambush hunters, not actual duelists or monsters who could trade blows with strong bodies.
Dao Xu sent a stream of sharp ice daggers on an icy wind that pushed them back as well as made gouges on their metallic-like bodies.
Dao Xuan, being a user of water and not ice, took out an enchanted fan that sent streams of cutting high-pressure waves of water from the end of her fan.
All the while, the monsters going to the ground and not being anchored to the tree's. I used my summoned burning roots in the easily moved soft soil to drag them underground, where they would be swiftly burned alive.
Things looked almost easy... Until Dao Xuan cried out as one sword whisper who had decided to go underground came out in front of her and it's sword whip body snapped forward in a slash that carved... Through her robe as I grabbed her by the back of her robe and dragged her back.
And as I did so. I saw her grey halo above her head explode in color as I changed her fate. I changed her ordained fate to die in this room at this moment, and I watched as her Halo grew in both size and color as it went from grey, to green, to blue.
And then I watched in awe as it reached a true purple. A purple that meant a peak Nascent Soul or low immortal class chance she will face in the future!